Drouin’s double-minor crushes comeback bid
Tuukka Rask hasn’t had much success against the Canadiens in his career, and coach Claude Julien’s comeback kids made it difficult for him Saturday night as they rallied for two goals in the third period to tie the score, only to lose 3-2 on a power-play goal by John Moore with 2:57 to play. The Canadiens found themselves short-handed for four minutes after Jonathan Drouin was called for what appeared to be a phantom high-sticking infraction against David Backes. It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Canadiens, who are 0-2-2 in that stretch. They are still clinging to the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, but they fell three points behind the seventh-place Bruins, who also hold a game in hand. Rask improved his record against the Canadiens to 11-16-3 and he appears to be back on track after taking some time off to “make things right” with his family. In the three games since he returned to the lineup, he has a 1-0-2 record and has allowed only five goals. Artturi Lehkonen, whose inability to finish has been a source of frustration, thought he had his third goal of the season in the opening minute of the third period. He went to the net and tipped a pass from Victor Mete. Lehkonen batted away at the loose puck after Rask made the save on his initial shot, but the apparent goal was wiped out because the officials ruled the play had stopped as the puck was frozen. That decision proved crucial because Drouin ended Rask’s shutout bid at 6:46 when he stickhandled around defenceman Torey Krug and scored on a shot that trickled though the goaltender’s pads. Tomas Tatar made it interesting when he tied the score with a power-play goal at 10:09. Give Andrew Shaw a ton of credit on this one as he dug the puck out behind the net and set up Tatar in the slot for his 10th goal of the season. Montreal miscues allowed the Bruins to grab a 2-0 lead in the first period. Rookie centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi was attempting to clear the Canadiens’ zone when Backes stripped the puck and went in alone to beat Carey Price on the glove side for his first goal of the season at 13:01. The Canadiens took advantage of a turnover by Colby Cave to produce a flurry of activity around the Boston net following the Backes goal, but Rask stopped Drouin, Krug blocked a shot by Max Domi and Rask followed by robbing Mete, who is still looking for his first NHL goal. Jake DeBrusk scored the second goal at 14:42 when he beat Brett Kulak to the net on a 4-on-4 situation and redirected a pass from Krug. Price had to be sharp in the first 21/2 minutes as the Bruins had five shots, including four from directly in front of the net. Two of the shots were the result of turnovers by Karl Alzner. Kulak, who is fighting to stay in Montreal after being called up from Laval on Thursday, kept the Bruins from adding to their lead midway through the second period when he caught David Krejci from behind on a breakaway.